Kevin's First Father's Day

HAPPY FIRST FATHER'S DAY DADDY! 

Lillian and I are so blessed to have Kevin in our lives. He has been an amazing father so far and I can see how much he loves her every day. He is a wonderful example of how a man should treat his wife and I hope Lillian continues to see that as she grows and is able to find a husband just like him. This was Kevin's first Fathers Day and we wanted to make it special. We were heading out of town for the weekend so we gave him his presents on Thursday night. Here is a Video I took and a couple of pictures of Lillian sporting her "My Daddy Rocks" onesie.

Everyone feels they have the best father/husband and I love to hear that. I hope all you old and new fathers continue to be the BEST and enjoy those precious beings you brought into this world.

YCC Lakehouse Trip

We had an awesome weekend spending time with our bible class from back in Atlanta up in Baxter, TN at Centerhill Lake. This is a great group of people and we were so happy we got to see them all again and hangout the whole weekend. One of the couples, the AMAZING Scott and Jessica Wood, have a house up on the lake and knew one of the neighbors had two houses that they let us rent. There was a total of 10 families, 20 adults, and 18 children elementary age and younger. We had a blast! We got up there late morning on Friday and spent the whole day on the lake riding the seadoos and tubing and skiing both Friday and Saturday. I made sure Lillian was covered head to toe in sunscreen and still kept her under the umbrella the whole day. Unfortunately I didn't do as well of a job applying sunscreen to myself and I got burned a few places but luckily not to bad. I think it was because I used a spray instead of lotion because after I applied Lillian's lotion sunscreen to her I must have wiped my hand on my shoulder because I have three finger marks in the middle of a sunburned spot. Lol.

Saturday I ended up taking Lillian out on the boat even though I said I wasn't going to before. They had an infant life jacket and once I saw how well if fit her I felt a little better about going out. And I'm glad we went because she LOVED the boat. One of her best naps was taken while riding on the boat. Plus she looked super cute in her life jacket, her cheeks were all squished and all you could see sticking out of the life jacket were little hands and feet. Sooo cute.

Kevin's cheesy tank top but check out those guns!

First time at the Lake

We had awesome dinners both nights but on Saturday night a couple of moms came up with the idea to buy small coke bottles and tie these ties around them as Father's Day gifts and the kids for each family gave the coke bottles to their dad and said something they loved doing with their dads. It was sweet an Lillian even got to give her daddy one and said "thank you for changing my stinky diapers."

We also did s'mores around the fire pit and the kids played with sparklers. Everyone was so helpful with Lillian the whole weekend.

Here is a group picture of the kids and then one of all of us. We love this group of people that God blessed us with. Can't wait to get together again.

Lillian's 12th Week

This was not our best week yet but still thankful for this precious healthy baby girl.

Nursing: The last few days of this week Lillian would only nurse on one side. She especially had a difficult time at her last two feedings of the day eating long enough. What I would end up doing is feeding her on one side and feeding her a small bottle. Then I'll pump the other side. I think my milk supply has also been decreasing slightly. I've been trying to drink more water to help and pump after each feeding if I feel like there is anything left. I was getting really frustrated when I couldn't get her to feed on the second side. I tried not to take it out on her so I would put her down to calm myself. When I went to pick her up again she would have a huge smile on her face. How could I stay frustrated long with that sweet smile.

Sleep:  The 45 minute intruder has come upon us. This is when she will wake up within 45 minutes of going down for her nap. It generally happens during her evening naps. Other than that she sleeps great during the day. Her first nap after her 7am feeding is her best nap. She goes right to sleep. Night time she was still waking around 2-3 to eat. Then Sunday night and Monday night my sweet girl finally slept from 10pm-7am. She did wake up both nights around 3:30 but all I did was put her paci back in and I moved her from her crib to her swing. She sleeps great in that swing. Having her sleep through the night makes those frustrating evening feedings a little more bearable.

Other Happenings:
- Still spitting up quite a bit and giving the gas drops
- Lillian is a big talker now. We have full out conversations after her feedings. Her facial expressions are so  cute and then she'll furrow her eyebrows and go into a serious conversation like she is telling me, "mom my diaper is full and if you don't change me soon i'll get a diaper rash."
- She has been making spit bubbles a lot and drooling.
- Lillian loves it when you sing to her. I told Kevin to sing to her and he sang Johnny Cash Walk the Line and she could have cared less but when he sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star she sang along with him. Although her version is more like "coo ahh goo coo" :)
- Still not a fan of tummy time but will do really well for the 5 minutes or so I make her do it.

Memorial Day with Family

Memorial Day we headed to Nashville for a quick trip to visit with my family. My brothers both live in Nashville and now my parents do as well. My sister flew in for the weekend and she hadn't seen Lillian since she was born. We just hung out at my brother's home and had the typical summer holiday cookout. Since Lillian is the first grandchild on my family's side she gets lots of the attention.

Lillian is very loved by her Aunts and Uncles. 

I do have to agree with this image I found. We have lots of friends and family that are part of the military and we are very thankful for the sacrifices they make so we can live freely and have these holidays to enjoy time with our families.

Lillian's 11th Week

Mommy came to the realization this week that Miss Lillian is a growing girl. Here she is 11 weeks old today!

Nursing: Doing wonderful still. No pain for mommy and still feeding for just about 15-20 minutes total. She still spits up but only occasionally is it the huge amounts. We tried some new gas drops that seem to help sometimes but not all the time. 

Sleeping: Lillian sleeps great during the day for her naps but night time is hit or miss. This last week she  kept waking up in the middle of the night between 2 and 3. Then Friday night we went out of town again and Friday, Saturday and Sunday night she slept through the night again. Like 10 pm-6:30-7am. I don't think anything is happening different during the day that gets her to sleep through the night. Hopefully its just a habit that she'll break. I thought it was maybe that when we were out of town she sleeps in her pack n play but Sunday night she was in her crib and slept fine. 

Other Happenings:

- As I said Lillian is growing. We took out the infant padding in the car seat and in her swing this week. 

- Mommy packed up all of her newborn clothes. I refused on packing some of the 0-3 months outfits because she isn't even 3 months yet even though some of them are a little snug.

- Lillian is so strong she has been holding her head up on her own for awhile probably since she was about a month old

- We tried out the Bumbo chair for the first time. As you can see she wasn't sure what to think at first but then she loved it.

you can really see how bald she has gotten in this picture

Daddy making sure she doesn't decide to fling her head backwards

- Mommy's Best Friend Kinsey came to visit. I was so glad to see her and she finally got to meet Lillian. Kinsey is also expecting her first baby in November and I am so excited for her to experience the joy of a baby.

- Got a package in the mail for Lillian from a sweet friend who has been an amazing Mommy mentor

- We also went to Nashville again this weekend. Kevin had an Ultimate Frisbee tournament so Lillian and Mommy went for an hour each day and Lillian got to meet some of Daddy's friends and hangout with Nana and Poppa and Uncle Mitch, Nick, and Aunt Brittany.

-Lillian had been grabbing hold of burp cloths and her bibs lately so i thought she would love to have a soft little thing to grab hold of. She doesn't use it for sleep mainly something I just give her to hold and look at during her awake time. Aunt Nina (who loved 101 Dalmatians growing up) got it for her and it is super soft. 

Kanzelmeyer Family Reunion

Memorial Day weekend we took Lillian on her first long road trip and headed up to Toledo Ohio for the Kanzelmeyer family reunion. I grew up doing family reunions with my dad's side of the family. He is one of six but he's the baby so there are tons more grand kids and great grand kids. Kevin's dad is one of 9 kids and they live all over the U.S. so they don't get together often. I think before this weekend I had only met one aunt and one uncle and then his grandparents. It was fun getting to finally put a face with the names. And Lillian got to meet her great grandparents.

We left Friday morning very early, 5:30 am to get on the road and miss any morning rush hour traffic in Nashville. The drive was not too bad at all. We packed our own lunches and a few snacks. I pumped in the car and fed Lillian a bottle then would stop to burp and change her.  I think the whole trip only took about 9 hours. She did very well in the car no fussing a all but she didn't sleep as long like she normally would when we go back to Georgia. It was a good road trip and Lillian has now been to the following states; Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. I like to keep track because growing up we traveled a lot and I lost count of all the states I had been to before I even graduated high school but I know it's probably 75% of the states if not more. Maybe Lillian will appreciate it if I keep track for her. 

Friday was mainly a travel day but once we got to our hotel in Toledo we rested while we waited for everyone else to arrive. Lillian finally got to meet some of her cousins.

We love these kiddos!

Saturday we woke up and went to breakfast at Bob Evans. I had never heard of it before. For all you other southern folks I would describe it as like IHOP. Very big and delicious pancakes. This was again an interesting experience because we now had 23 of  us sitting at one long table. Later that morning since we were all so full of food from breakfast we decided to go burn some calories at the park.  By this point it had gotten a little warmer out and the sun was shining. So nice to get some fresh air. Unfortunately this was when mommy had her "first time mom" epic fail moment. I guess because it was so cool that morning I didn't even think about it but I forgot sunscreen and even though we were only there for maybe an hour poor Lillian got sunburned on half of her face. :( it could be worse but I still felt bad. After the park we came back to the hotel to get showered and a few of us girls went shopping at the antique mall behind the hotel then took naps until dinner.

For dinner the whole Kanzelmeyer clan got together at a banquet hall in the retirement community where Kevin's grandparents live. We had good food and conversation and grandma had a special activity for us all to participate in. She brought in boxes of hand bells and each one was a certain color. She had some cards in her hands and told us when we saw our color we had to ring the bell. There was also some background music playing and we started ringing.  the song we are playing is "Its a small world after all"  It was so neat, although half way through I look down at Lillian and she has this look of terror on her face. Poor thing had no idea what as going on and it was pretty loud. It was cool how well it went and how easy it was. They said it's the perfect game for kids ages 5-95! 

Sunday we woke up and enjoyed breakfast together in the hotel conference room. Someone had gotten together a bunch of typical breakfast foods, cereal, donuts, cinnamon rolls. (this is why breakfast is my favorite meal of the day). We decided to go see Lake Erie since it was so close. It was a nice day, a little cold but awesome. We of course took lots of pictures.

Our niece and nephews were so excited to be at the "beach"

Cutie Amaleia

Rare picture of me and the hubby

Family Pic! Lillian wasn't a fan of the bright sun.

On the way to the lake we saw a huge windmill. Guess its hard to tell how big it is in the picture but it was pretty cool.

After Lake Erie we headed back for one last meal with the whole Kanzelmeyer clan then Kevin and I headed to Nashville to visit my family and spend memorial day with them. Post to come. 

Lillian's 10th Week

We are in double digits... Lillian was 10 weeks old yesterday!

We accidentally left our nice camera at my brother's house this weekend so I had to take this week's picture on my phone.

This one is better with her legs straight out.

Nursing: I feel like we are nursing professionals now. Lillian Latches quickly and easily now and only nurses for about 15 minutes total. She is still a "happy spitter" and the doctor said it is probably mild reflux but since it's not causing her pain or making her fuss then we don't really need to worry about medicine or anything. She eats well and is growing perfectly. We do try to keep her at the 30 degree angle after she eats now for at least 20 minutes or so and we try not to jostle her around much for an hour after she eats. 

Awake Time: Since we can't move her around much after she eats it makes it difficult to get her some tummy time during her awake time. We do still do a few minutes toward the end of awake time but not too long because she hates tummy time. Once she starts to get real fussy i roll her to her back so she doesn't get too worked up right before bed. Her total awake time ranges from 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

Sleep: Well this last week wasn't the easiest so far. I think the combination of us traveling four days out  of the week, her shots, and a growth spurt made it a little more challenging. We left on Friday at 5:30am to head up to Toledo OH for a Kevin's family reunion. That meant being in the car for 10 hours. So she did not sleep well. And with people holding her more during her naps it probably wasn't the best sleep. We tried to stick to the schedule as best we could but i didn't want to be stuck in the hotel room by myself all day either. The problem was mainly during her naps during the day. she would fall asleep fine but then wake up 40 minutes later, be awake for 30 minutes or so then fall back asleep so i would have to wake her up to eat again. She did however start sleeping through the night again while we were traveling. Maybe because she wasn't getting as much sleep during the day. She would wake up around 5ish making noises but if we just left her alone she falls right back to sleep. Or if she starts fussing too much i would get up put her paci back in and pat her for a minute or two and she would be fine. 

Schedule: As I said we were a little off schedule due to traveling and being in a different time zone. However because she started sleeping through the night I feel we have the perfect schedule for her now. She eats every 3 hours (I took it down to 3 from 3 1/2 because she was waking up so often) and would wake up around 6-6:30ish so we now start our day around 6:30am, then go 3 hours from there, ending at 9:30pm with her last feeding, no dream feed, so there is a total of 6 feedings and she sleeps until morning. (still sometimes waking up in the middle of the night but after a minute or two she soothes herself back to sleep)

Other Happenings:

-Like I said we did a lot of traveling this weekend. I have two posts to share all the details about that. 

-Lillian's hands have found her mouth and she is always sticking her fingers in. even if i am in the middle of feeding her. 

-Mommy finally got around to doing Lillian's foot and hand prints in the kit that was given to us as a present. It was harder than I thought to get her hand out of a fist but they turned out pretty good and the ink wiped off nicely.